Sage Asita’s Visit

Asita who was the teacher of Sihahanu,
was the father of Suddhodana. During that period
of time, he
refused to live the worldly life and retired as a
loner and lived in the royal park. Later, he
developed numerous unbelievable powers.
Moreover, most of the time he often spent his days in the
Tavatimsa Loka, a heavenly place. Once when he
visited Tavatimsa, he saw the whole Loka
decorated with flowers and the devas were having
fun. On inspecting, he came to know that
Siddhattha Gotama was born and his birth was
being celebrated there, because he was to become
the Buddha.

Excited with this news he rushed to the Suddhodana’s palace and asked him to show the
baby boy Siddhattha who was going to become as a
Buddha. When he saw the baby boy and lifted him up in
his arms to read the lucky marks anywhere
present on his body, his face first arose up with a joyous smile
but was soon clouded by a sad expression
and he began shedding tears with a loud cry.

When the surprised king asked an explanation for
his strange behavior, Asita said that he was
happy because the child was to achieve
Enlightenment; but he would not be lucky
enough to survive long to hear his enlightening
teachings.

Later on when Asita meant his sister’s son Nalaka,
he instructed him to prepare himself so that he
could receive
the Buddha’s teachings when the time would come.